


The Female Experience

by JediMordsith



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Force Healing, Gen, female bodies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:20:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25445290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JediMordsith/pseuds/JediMordsith
Summary: Mara finds a flaw in Skywalker's Force technique. She doesn't want to get involved, but Organa-Solo had been kind to her.
Relationships: Mara Jade & Leia Organa, Mara Jade & Luke Skywalker
Comments: 19
Kudos: 60





	The Female Experience

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone who has seen any of my work will know that I am seriously fascinated by the interplay between the Force and the physical body. Those Feels reared their heads while I was reading/listening to an *amazing* book and I had to word-vom this and share it.

“How do you not have a [power calibrator](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Power_calibrator) in this thing?” Mara demanded, rifling through the emergency toolkit again.

“Haven’t had a chance to replace it,” Solo grunted, digging around in the transmitter’s guts with a mini-hydrospanner.“Got eaten by a Veermok.”

“A [Veermok](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Veermok/Legends)?" Mara stopped pawing through the kit. “Where the hell did you run into one of those?”

“Down-level,” he replied vaguely. “We can manage without it.” 

Mara opened her mouth to retort, but then they both looked up as a shadow fell over them. Skywalker stood over them, his expression tight.

“How is she?” Solo asked immediately.

“She’ll live.” A muscle in Luke’s jaw flexed. “I did what I could to make her comfortable, but the pain suppression technique still doesn’t help her very much.” He ran a hand through his sweat-matted hair and blew out a breath. “I hate that I don’t know why.”

“Yeah, well, can’t know everything Kid.” Solo’s voice was gruff. “Here.” He shoved the transmitter at Skywalker.“See what you can do with this.”

Skywalker accepted the device and Solo moved to sit with his wife. Mara watched the Jedi hunch over the device, his frustration and grief at being unable to better help his sister bleeding out into the Force. The piquant sharpness of it was too much this close. Mara shoved to her feet. “I’ll go relieve the Wookie.”

* * *

  
Standing watch over their make-shift camp gave Mara time to think. Too much time. Memories played in her head of Organa-Solo’s unwarranted kindness. Memories of Skywalker’s grimacing recounting of his patchy training. A suspicion formed and a hunch began to itch beneath her skin like a [droch](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Droch).

When Solo lumbered out of his bedroll to replace her on watch, Mara feinted at heading for her own. When his back turned, however, she veered toward the one he’d just vacated.

Organa-Solo’s eyes opened when Mara knelt in the darkness beside her. Weary, Organa-Solo had lost her grip on her shields and her pain soaked into the Force. “Mara,” she said quietly. “What’s wrong?”

Mara shot a look at where Skywalker was rolled up in his own blankets, his back to them. Asleep. Her mouth felt dry and there was an unmistakable buzz of adrenaline in her veins. This was risky. Setting her jaw, Mara turned back to Organa-Solo.

“I want to look at the pain suppression technique Skywalker used. I won’t — I won’t be invasive. Poke around anywhere. I just want to look.”

The other woman regarded her for a moment, an inscrutable look on her face. Then she nodded tiredly and flicked her fingers. “Go ahead.”

Sinking down so that she was sitting on her heels, Mara closed her eyes and focused. The Force was thick here, lush and vibrant. Almost overwhelming. She gripped her control tightly. She was long out of practice, but she’d been good at this, once. She could do this.

Reaching out cautiously, she touched the other woman’s mind. Organa-Solo had strong natural shields, but she let Mara in at the surface level without resistance. Probing gently, Mara frowned. She traced Skywalker’s suppression technique, its pathways through Organa-Solo’s body. Cursing under her breath, she opened her eyes.

“What is it?” Organa-Solo asked, her brows pinching and her dark eyes sharp despite the pain and sleep-deprivation. “You found something.”

Mara resisted the urge to shift uncomfortably. This was going to lead to some unpleasant conversations. Still, Organa-Solo had been kind to her. “It’s the wrong technique,” she said, bluntly. “I can show you a better one. If you want.”

 _“Yes.”_ The Princess’s answer was immediate. “Show me.”

Something in Mara’s chest clenched. She wasn’t a teacher. _You don’t have to teach,_ she upbraided herself. _Just do it and she can take it over. This isn’t about training. Just — just a favor. Kindness for kindness. Clearing the books._

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes again, Mara ran the pattern in her head as she’d always used it on herself. Then she envisioned mapping the same steps onto Organa-Solo’s body. She traced the alternative pathways that she knew, flinching only slightly when the Princess’s mind slid alongside hers, quickly picking them up. Skywalker’s patterns vanished as Organa-Solo grasped the new ones and threw her flagging energy into them as the pain immediately receded. Inflammation quieted, calm beginning to soak in as her screaming nerves went quiet.

Elation and smug satisfaction shot through Mara even as exhaustion settled into her own bones. This was harder on someone else and it had been a long time. She felt the mental equivalent of someone squeezing her hand.

 _I have it now._ It was less words than a feeling, but Mara got the message clearly and disengaged. She swayed a little, the full return to her own body momentarily disorienting. Strong, gentle hands steadied her and Mara’s stomach turned over. Skywalker’s Force presence was bright and intense beside her.

He’d been watching.

* * *

Braiding her hair in the ‘fresher of her borrowed cabin in the _Wild Karrde,_ Mara was vividly aware of Skywalker’s presence nearby. In the hall, she guessed, imagining him leaning against the wall in a loaned ship suit, his arms crossed, blue eyes fixed on her door. He was trying to keep a lid on things, but his fascination and impatience had been threatening to spill over since the moment the drop in this sister’s pain levels had pulled him from a thin sleep. He’d have cornered her about it that night if they hadn’t been interrupted and on the move every second since.

Sighing, Mara fastened off her braid and went to let him in.

As expected, he was leaning against the wall, freshly showered and scrubbed. To her surprise, however, he had two trays of food with him.

“I thought you’d be hungry,” he said by way of explanation as she waved him in.

“You wanted to talk to me alone,” she countered flatly. Still, she sat at the small table and accepted the tray as he plunked down opposite her. “About the pain suppression technique.”

“How did you make it work?” He leaned forward, all poor attempts pretense and patience gone. “I’ve been trying since Master Yoda first taught me and it’s never worked on Leia — not _once_.”

“That,” Mara said precisely, picking up her food sticks, “is because you’re a man.”

“What?” Skywalker stared at her, baffled.

Mara sighed. She should have made diagrams or something. “Human males and human females have different physiology,” she explained, reminded again that she was not the natural teacher in this situation. “Men process pain differently. It — your bodies…” she floundered. “There’s different pathways. Different nerve reactions involved. Look —” an analogy occurred and she seized it. “Anti-shock. You’ve used anti-shock injectors, right?”

“Of course.” Skywalker planted his elbows on the table and stared at her, rapt as the pieces came together. “You have to program them,” he said, visibly excited. “By species and gender. For them to work right.”

“Exactly,” Mara nodded. “The dose of the active ingredient changes, but the excipients change, too.”

“Excipients?”

“The other stuff in the dose,” she clarified. Of course, the Rebellion hadn’t taught anyone official terms for things. “The ‘filler’ that helps you absorb and process the active drug. Women need different ones than men to facilitate that because drugs they don't work the same. Don't absorb at the same rates.”

“So I had the Force on the wrong setting, effectively.” Skywalker shook his head, wonder and frustration in his expression. “Like giving her the wrong medication. No wonder it didn’t work.” He blew out a breath. “It never occurred to me that the Force could apply differently to different bodies. I wish I’d known. I wish Yoda had _told_ me! How much else am I doing wrong because I haven’t been taking that into account?”

Mara braced, ready for the petition to come back to the Academy and finish her studies that she knew would be coming.

“Mara…” Luke said, his voice going hesitant. “Did you…” he licked his lips and Mara tried to ignore the completely inappropriate curl of lust the movement evoked deep inside her. “It isn’t like you to not tell me when I’m doing something wrong. But you didn’t this time. Is… is everything all right between us? I know you weren’t happy at the Academy, but… I thought _we_ were okay. I want us to be.”

Mara blinked. He… cared? About… _them?_ She’d thought — it didn’t matter what she’d thought. He was here, now, with her, brimming with concern and affection and a sort of awe that sent warmth eddying through her.

“We’re fine.” She didn’t recognize the softness in her own voice. A little alarmed, she retreated to safer ground. “I can show you,” she cleared her throat. “How it works. The female pathways, I mean. How it’s different. If you want. If you can make time.”

Skywalker grabbed his food sticks and smiled, his pleasure rolling over her like sunshine. “Lunch first, and then I’m all yours.”

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women's Health and What We Can Do About it. It is INCREDIBLE and I am begging everyone to read/listen to it!!


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